Tied Together With A Smile
by Kaatiieex
Summary: Lots of Taylor Swift song-fic shots. Troy & Gabriella centric.
1. Teardrops On My Guitar

So I was listening to Taylor Swift's album and got all these overwhelming ideas in my head and decided to do one shots of some her songs.  
Troy & Gabriella centric! 

"_Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see  
That I want and I'm needing everything that we should be"_

Gabriella smiled at the one boy that she wanted in the whole world. Her best friend. After the call backs she and Troy had seemed to slip into the 'friendship zone', which was never what she had wanted or planned.  
She had known that he was popular, she had seen the swarms of girls throw themselves at him, but he never pursued a relationship with one of them until now. She wasn't at East High Gabriella assumed, Troy hadn't even told her the name of the girl.

"_I'll bet she's beautiful, that girl he talks about  
And she's got everything that I have to live without"_

He always told her how beautiful the girl he was in 'love' with was. Gabriella knew by the way he spoke of her that he was in love with her. He said he'd never met anyone like her before, he knew that she was the one. She laughed at the thought, he was 16 how did he know who the one was?

_"Drew talks to me, I laugh cause it's so damn funny  
That I can't even see anyone when he's with me"_

Gabriella loved the 'Troy and Gabriella' days that they shared. Taylor often teased her, but Gabriella didn't care. Troy was the one who had come up with the name and she liked it. They would spend the entire day together once in a while, watching movies, playing basketball or simply going out. It was her favourite way to spend her time; she even liked it better than reading. One of the reasons Troy had stolen her heart was because he could make her laugh, he always knew the right thing to say. He would always say that he loved her laugh and that was his reason for making her laugh so much. Gabriella understood the saying 'love is blind'. Love makes you see only one person, the other people around you, they disappear.

_"He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar  
The only thing that keeps me wishing on a wishing star  
He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do"_

Gabriella had started off co-writing music with Kelsi, but soon found herself scribbling her feelings out on paper. She never composed music for them, just simple tunes that she made up in her head each time she would hold the guitar in her hands. The days where it became too 

unbearable to her, which were coming more regularly each month, she would simply take out her guitar and play these songs over and over. 

She would sometimes spend an entire night out on her balcony looking up at the stars. She would trace her fingertips along the ground where she lay, where his feet once stood, apologising to her for telling his friends that she meant nothing to him. 

She would find herself singing along to all the love songs that would come on the radio, thinking of him. Why did she do it to herself?

_"Drew walks by me, can he tell that I can't breathe?  
And there he goes, so perfectly,  
The kind of flawless I wish I could be"_

Gabriella wished every time that she walked passed that she could be perfect, like he was. Then maybe she would be the one for him, be the one in his arms instead of that other girl.

_"She'd better hold him tight, give him all her love  
Look in those beautiful eyes and know she's lucky"_

She sat on her bed looking at the photos of her and Troy she had pulled off her bedroom walls. It was time to say goodbye. She traced his face delicately with her fingertips; it was her favourite picture, which had been taken at opening night of 'Twinkle Town'. They were looking at each other, smiling. 'She better love him as much as I do' she thought to herself.

_"So I drive home alone, as I turn out the light  
I'll put his picture down and maybe  
Get some sleep tonight"_

It was Troy's birthday and Gabriella drove over to his house, with her favourite picture in her hand. She had framed it and was going to give it to him as a birthday gift. Gabriella was parked outside the Bolton house when she saw, through the window Troy standing with a brunette girl. Gabriella looked down at the picture in her hand and smiled sadly. 'Never mind Troy.' She turned around and drove back home. Once in bed she placed the picture on her bedside table, maybe one day she could give it to him, maybe.

_"He's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar  
The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart"_

It was no secret at East High that Troy Bolton, star basketball player was going to make it official with the 'girl' he was in love with. Even though Troy had never told Gabriella that he 

officially had a girlfriend, she had thought he had for sure when she had seen a certain brunette with Troy at his house. 

"_He's the song in the car I keep singing, don't know why I do"_

"Gabriella?"  
The brunette turned her head to see Troy standing before her. She smiled, she hadn't spoken to him in days.  
"Can we talk, on the roof?" Gabriella smiled and took his outstretched hand. Of course he could, he could take her anywhere.  
Troy led Gabriella to their secret place, her heart had soared the day he had told her that no one else knew about it except her. She wished she could go back to that moment and kiss him there, to ensure him of her feelings that she had to hide every day.  
"So Troy, what's up?"  
Gabriella took a seat on the bench in front of Troy. He looked nervous. She didn't understand.  
"Gabriella, you know I told you about that girl, the one that I really like?" She nodded, encouraging him to carry-on even though she didn't want to hear about it. It only broke her heart to hear him confirm it.  
"Well that girl Gabi..." she closed her eyes and bent her head down. 'Why can't the ground close me up right now?' she thought.  
"It's you." Her head shot up immediately. Tears formed in her eyes, did he just..? "I understand if you don't feel the same or anything, you know seeing as how good of friends we are but..." Troy was cut off by the feeling of soft lips upon his. Recovering from the shock, he kissed back and managed to wrap his arms around her waist as her arms encircled his neck.  
_  
"He's the time taken up, but there's never enough  
And he's all that I need to fall into.._"

Six months. That's how long it had been since Troy had revealed his secret to Gabriella, that she was the girl he had been telling her about. Why hadn't she seen it before? They had wasted so much time, precious time.

"You're all I want Troy Bolton." Troy turned to look to his girlfriend who was lying on her back on her balcony floor whilst Troy played on her guitar. A soft smile played on his lips.

"_Drew looks at me, I fake a smile so he won't see."_

It was Troy's parents' anniversary and Gabriella was sat nervously in the Bolton living room with Troy at her side. She suddenly spotted a familiar looking brunette, 'where have I seen her before?' The girl smiled as she looked toward Troy and Gabriella's direction. Gabriella turned to see that Troy was motioning for her to come over.  
"Hey Nancy, come over here I want you to meet someone." As the girl came closer into view, Gabriella instantly realised who she was. The girl that she had thought was Troy's girlfriend, on 

his birthday.  
Troy stood from his place at Gabriella's side and pulled her up with him, fingers entwined.  
"Gabriella this is my cousin Nancy. Nance this is my girlfriend Gabriella."  
Gabriella who was in complete shock forced a smile across her face. So she was his cousin.  
"Nice to meet you Nancy." Gabriella finally found her natural smile, 'you're lucky you were just his cousin.' 


	2. Picture To Burn

Okay so I'm excited that I had some positive feedback from the first chapter.  
I realise that there were some lyrics left out, I knew whilst I was writing. But thanks for informing me! It's good to get some critical feedback I guess!  
So here's the second song-fic chapter! 

"_State the obvious,  
I didn't get my perfect fantasy  
I realize you love yourself more than you could ever love me"_

"Gabriella wait." Troy ran after his girlfriend through the familiar halls of East High.  
"Wait for what Troy? For you to tell that you can't see me for the remainder of the basketball season?" The brunette stopped and turned to face her boyfriend. 'God he looks so hot'. Troy stood before her sweaty in his basketball kit after running drills with the team in the gym for the past two hours. 'Focus Gabriella, you're mad at him remember.'  
"I didn't know that my dad wanted us to train all weekend, but you have to realise that the next match determines where we go this season." He needed her to understand.  
"Yes Troy" she took a step toward him. "But what you have to understand is that what happens in the next few weeks will determine where our relationship goes." Troy imitated her and took a step closer to her.  
"Gabriella please, I'll take you out Saturday night after practice I promise." Troy's eyes were pleading with her brown orbs.  
"Troy, it's our one year anniversary. One year. What's more important?" With that Gabriella ran, she ran away from him and through the doors of East High and out into the open air. __

"So go and tell your friends that I'm obsessive and crazy  
That's fine; I'll tell mine you're gay"

"Hey what's up man?" Chad questioned his best friend as he made his way back into the gym after his argument with Gabriella.  
"Gabriella's gone crazy she accused me of loving basketball more than her." Chad shook his head in disbelief.  
"Obsessed much?" Troy smiled.  
"But then again, who wouldn't be?" the two boys laughed and ran to catch up with the rest of the team.

"Gabriella, what's the matter?" Gabriella lifted her face, which was currently buried in her pillow. Her mascara eyes only meant one thing, Troy.  
"Alright, that's it. What did he do?" Taylor set beside her best friend and put a comforting arm around her.  
"He's missing our anniversary for basketball practice Taylor. I had the perfect night planned and he's just ruined it." Tears continued to roll down her tanned cheeks.  
"Aw honey come here." Taylor gathered her best friend in her arms and did her best to comfort 

her.  
"He's gay Tay."  
Both girls erupted into giggles. __

"And by the way...  
I hate that  
stupid old pickup truck  
You never let me drive"

"Why else do you hate him Gabi?" slurred a drunken Sharpay. Taylor handed Gabriella the bottle of wine that Sharpay had stolen from the Evans' cellar earlier that day. It was operation Gabriella, to make her forget about her boyfriend who had left for the weekend with the guys to practice with his father.  
"Well..." Gabriella almost fell off her bed and joined in with the other girls' laugher. "You know that stupid truck Troy drives?" Both girls nodded, Sharpay in disgust. Had she even liked this boy? Look what he drove. "Well, he never lets me drive it. How gay."  
_  
"So watch me strike a match  
On all my wasted time"_

The girls were currently sitting outside on Gabriella's balcony with a small bonfire burning in front of them.  
"Go for it Gabriella." Sharpay encouraged.  
"Just do it Gab." Taylor laughed at the drunken state of herself and her friends and giggled even more as Gabriella threw pictures of Troy into the bonfire.  
Gabriella took out her cell and typed a message to Troy._  
"As far as I'm concerned you're  
Just another picture to burn"_

"There's no time for tears,  
I'm just sitting here  
planning my revenge"

It was Sunday evening and Troy would be returning from training in a few hours. Gabriella was sat in her room, determined not to allow her 'boyfriend' to cause her any more tears. 'How to get back at him?' A smiled formed on her face.  
_  
"There's nothing stopping me  
From going out with all of your best friends"_

"Hey you're on the basketball team right?" Gabriella innocently asked a tall blonde haired, green eyed jock.  


"Um, yeah but you're Bolton's girlfriend right?" Troy heard Nate stammering as he turned the corner and set his eyes on his girlfriend standing too closely to his teammate.  
"Yeah but he cares more about the game than me, I need someone to pay attention to me." She smirked as she saw the look on Troy's face. "See you around Nate boy." She smiled seductively at the two boys and carried on down the corridor, swinging her hips. __

"If you're missing me,  
You'd better keep it to yourself  
Cause coming back around here  
Would be bad for your health..."

"Gabriella please let me in. We need to talk." Troy stood on Gabriella's balcony in the pouring rain pleading with his girlfriend to let him in her room.  
Gabriella stomped toward the balcony doors. He saw the look of anger across her face, but didn't miss the hurt in her eyes.  
"Troy please just leave I do not have anything to say to you. You made your choice now live with it." Gabriella turned her Ipod on and turned back to him. "You know you'll get a cold if you stand out there any longer." She smiled sweetly and closed the curtains on Troy's pained face. __

"'cause I hate that  
stupid old pickup truck  
You never let me drive"

'I miss that old stupid pickup truck' she thought to herself as she watched him drive away from her house.__

"As far as I'm concerned you're  
Just another picture to burn"

Gabriella almost fell through her bedroom door Friday afternoon after school; it had been a hard week. She had avoided Troy at all costs and instead of spending her time with him, she had chosen to occupy her time with homework. Exhausting.  
She opened her eyes to find her room covered in candles and rose petals. "Oh my" she gasped. The candles led her to out onto her balcony and the rose petal trail ended with her boyfriend standing in front of her holding a pink rose. He smiled at the look on her face and the tears in her eyes. He knew that he had done right.  
"What is this?" she shocked herself with her voice, even though it was barely audible. She didn't think that she would have been able to release anything from her mouth except air. 

Troy moved closer to her and offered her the rose in his left hand. Taking it from him, he spoke.  
"I made a choice." She fingered the flower in front of her and looked to his face. "I realised that 

practice, it's not as important as you Gabi." __

"Burn, burn, burn, baby, burn"

'Basketball burn, my boyfriend chose me over you.'_  
_


	3. Our Song

The third one-shot is up!

"_I was riding shotgun  
With my hair undone  
In the front seat of his car"_

Troy and Gabriella had begged their parents to allow them to take a road trip to Phoenix and that's exactly what they had done. Troy was driving the pick-up truck that Gabriella 'hated' and she was situated in the front seat loving the feeling of freedom but felt the disappointment rush through her as she realised that their spontaneous weekend was over. She glanced over to her boyfriend, she defiantly loved being free from her mother even if it was only for the weekend.  
_  
"He's got a one-hand feel on the  
steering wheel  
The other on my heart"_

Gabriella had fallen into slumber about halfway through the seven hour drive. Instinctively she had taken hold of Troy's left hand and entwined it with her own whilst asleep in the passenger seat. She awoke to find their interlaced hands lying on her chest causing her mouth to curve into a smile and looked over to her boyfriend finding he was unaware of her conscious state. She loved the way Troy's hair hung loosely around his eyes and how his thumb would routinely stroke her hand when they were joined. She loved the way he looked when he drove, he always had his right hand on the steering wheel and the other on her whether it was holding her hand, on her thigh or wrapped around her frame. She loved how unconsciously he did those all of those things and how he sang along to the radio faintly, not wanting to wake her.  
_  
"I look around  
Turn the radio down  
He says, 'Baby, is something wrong?'  
I say, 'Nothing''  
I was just thinking'  
How we don't have a song...'  
And he says..."_

"Gabriella..."__

"Our song is the slamming screen door  
Sneaking out late  
Tapping on your window  
When we're on the phone  
and you talk reeeeal slow  
Cause it's late and your mama don't know  


_Our song is the way you laugh  
The first date, 'man, I didn't kiss her and I should have'  
Then when I got home  
Before I said amen  
Asking God if he  
Could play it again."  
_  
Gabriella giggled at his soft words. 'Why does he always know the right thing to say?'  
She thought back to the times where they would sneak out, he would tap on her balcony doors to alert her of his presence and they would sneak out of her back gate, climb into his truck and watch the sun come up. She loved how he would phone her when he got in from their dates and stay on the phone for hours, barely able to hear what the other was saying as they needed to whisper but it never mattered, Troy was happy just to hear her breath against his ear. She loved the way he'd always smile at her when she laughed, just because he loved her laugh knowing that he was the one that was the cause of the heavenly sound.

But most of all Gabriella remembered their first date. It was the day before 'Twinkle Town's' opening night. Troy had nervously asked her the week before if she wanted to celebrate the opening, Gabriella assumed that he had meant with all their friends too but before she walked away excitedly to find Taylor to inform her of their plans his courage took over him and he told her that he wanted it just to be the two of them. It was their first official date. Even though they had already shared their first kiss on the roof-top, Troy was still nervous, as was Gabriella. Troy had taken her for dinner to a romantic restaurant and then they took a walk before they headed back to Gabriella's house. It hadn't been awkward until the moment they stepped out of the truck and took the final few steps to Gabriella's front door. She knew her mother was awaiting her return as the porch light flickered on when they reached the front door. He had been nervous that her mother was watching them so Troy kissed Gabriella on the forehead and left it at that. To say she had been disappointed was an understatement; they hadn't shared a kiss since the day on the roof-top where he had finally revealed his feelings to her.

She laughed at his words as they warmed his heart. _"Asking God if he could play it again". _She remembered doing exactly the same thing, buthe had more than made up for it on their second date and every other date after.  
_  
"I was walking up the front porch steps  
After everything that day  
Had gone all wrong  
Been trampled on,  
lost, and thrown away"_

Gabriella had had a huge fight when she had returned home later that day. It was the same typical mother/daughter argument they had been having for years. She had regretted letting

Gabriella go to Arizona the minute she and Troy had left. She had asked Gabriella to return home but she had refused, saying that she had said yes and couldn't take it back now seeing as they were halfway across the state. She knew that an argument would flare up when she got home she had felt it coming when her mother had hung up on her after saying "see you when you get back". As usual the argument spiralled into something much bigger than her refusing to return home, as always everything Gabriella had ever done wrong was brought up and she felt so angry at her mother for daring to bring up such things.

But what Gabriella was most angry at was what she had said to her mother. Never before had they fought and said things like they had today. She hated herself for telling her mother she hated her and how she wished it was her that had died and not her father. After the words had left her mouth Gabriella ran and went to the only place that she could find solitude and forget about the argument. Troy's arms.

But he wasn't there. Lucille Bolton had informed her son's tearful girlfriend that he was at Chad's house and that she would drive her there, but Gabriella insisted that there was no need and she would go for a walk instead. Really wishing that Troy was there to hold her, but he had spent all weekend with her and now it was time for his friends to see him it was only fair.  
_  
"Got to the hallway  
Well on my way  
To my loving bed"_

Gabriella climbed the steps to her house after a long walk in the park and hoped that her mother was in bed already. Her heavy eyelids were starting to drop, exhausted from all the tears that had escaped through them over the course of a few hours. Gabriella gasped as she opened her bedroom door and spotted her room covered in rose petals. She smiled remembering the first time Troy had filled her room with rose petals, but this time it was so much more. He didn't do because he'd made her angry. He did it simply for her. She found her boyfriend curled up on her bed and was positive he was asleep as his soft steady breathing filled her ears.

Gabriella noticed that there was a piece of paper in his hand and made her way over to her bed and his sleeping figure, she gently slipped the white paper from his grip.  
_  
"I almost didn't notice all the  
roses  
And the note that said  
'Our song is the slamming screen door  
Sneaking out late  
Tapping on your window  
When we're on the phone  
and you talk reeeeal slow  
_

_Cause it's late and your mama don't know  
Our song is the way you laugh  
The first date, 'man, I didn't kiss her and I should have'  
Then when I got home  
Before I said amen  
Asking God if he  
Could play it again.'"_

He remembered everything he had said to her earlier that day in the car. The tears that had formed in her eyes trickled down her cheeks only to be wiped away by the softness of Troy's thumbs.

Gabriella jumped at the touch of his hand, however not from shock but from the sensations that the simple touch were erupting in her body.  
"Hey come here" Troy pulled Gabriella's body down onto his own and wrapped her in his embrace.  
"I can't believe you did all this Troy." Gabriella snuggled further into his chest.  
"Not like I haven't done it before." She giggled and he pulled her chin up slightly forcing her eyes to meet his gaze. "My mom called and said that you came to the house in tears so I left Chad's and came here straight away. Your mom filled me in on the rest and I figured you'd need cheering up cause I knew you'd be beating yourself up over stupid words neither of you meant." She knew that he was right. But how did he know her so well?

She gulped. "I said some pretty harsh things Troy." Gabriella bent her head embarrassedly she felt ashamed for what she had said to her mother.  
"Hey" he turned her body around so that she was sat up and meeting his eyes. "You didn't mean what you said, you know that too and so does your mom." His left hand was encouragingly stroking her arm.  
"I love you" he smiled as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. "You always know what I need to hear and this..." she motioned to the rose petals that were spread throughout the room. "This is so amazing." She kissed his lips gently and pulled back, ensuring her face was inches from his.  
"Well I knew you'd be upset and I wanted to try and make it better, I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me." Gabriella's eyes grew wide at his words.  
"No, no" she cupped his face in her hands. "You were right here when I needed you, you're here now making it all better and I couldn't love you more." He brushed his nose across hers and kissed her lips.  
"I love you too." __

"Dah dah dah dah...

I've heard every album,  


_listened to the radio  
Waited for something to come along  
That was as good as our song..._

Cause our song is the slamming screen doors  
Sneaking out late tapping on  
His  
Win-dow  
When we're on the phone and he talks real slow!  
Cause it's late and his mama don't know  
Our song is when he laughs  
The first date 'man I didn't kiss him and I should have'  
Then when I got home  
Before I said Amen  
Asking God if he  
Could play it again.."

Two nights later Troy was awoken by a tapping on his window. He looked over to his clock informing him that it was 4.30am.  
"I swear to god if that's Chad..." he was cut off by his breath being taken from him. There underneath his window did not stand Chad, but a small lightly tanned, brown haired, brown eyed girl. She had on blue jeans and he recognised the 'East High' hoody as his own. A smile played on his face as he realised what she was doing.  
"Hey wildcat" she called to him in a whisper. "Get your butt down here we've got a sunset to make." She smiled and skipped towards his car parked on the Bolton driveway. God he loved her. __

"Play it again  
I was riding shotgun  
With my hair undone  
In the front seat of his car.  
I grabbed a pen and an old napkin  
And I...  
...wrote down our song..."

Gabriella spotted a pen in the glove box of Troy's truck and an idea formed in her head. She pulled out an old napkin from the pocket of the Wildcats hoody she was wearing, remembering that she had stuffed some in there from the diner the other day when the gang had been hanging out there.

Troy looked over to his girlfriend and frowned. "Gabriella, what are you doing?" he asked quizzically. A smirk graced her lips and he felt his heart sink, that smile knew how to make his

insides soar.  
"Writing down our song."


	4. Should've Said No

Fourth go.  
I have decided to link the one-shots with each other, it seems logical.  
So this is kind of an intense chapter, I didn't really anticipate it being that way it just happened as I was writing. So I hope you enjoy. Please review and let me know!

"_It's strange to think the songs we used to sing  
The smiles, the flowers, everything: is gone"_

Gabriella sat on her bed, tears in her eyes. Her fingertips traced the note Troy had given her a few months ago, the note that was titled "Our Song". How could he be so stupid? He wrecked everything.  
Gabriella knew that they would never again sit outside on her balcony with Troy playing on her guitar whilst she hummed along to the tune, never would she smile her smile for him the one he loved so much, never again would she find her room covered in rose petals, everything, he had wrecked everything.  
_  
"Yesterday I found out about you  
Even now just looking at you: feels wrong"_

Gabriella found herself staring at Troy through the window of the library. She was sat directly in front of the window pretending to be engrossed in a book but the truth was she was watching him, the boy that had broken her heart. She wanted more than anything to run into those arms and have him tell her that it was all a lie, but she knew that he couldn't do that because it was true. She found herself staring at him and scolded herself, she should not be the pinning after him he had hurt her, so why was she missing him so much?  
_  
"You say that you'd take it all back, given one chance  
It was a moment of weakness and you said yes..."_

Gabriella was relieved that it was finally free period and that she could get out of the same room as Troy. So far they had shared four classes together, before she would have loved the fact that she would get to sit next to him and find her being distracted by his fingers locking with hers. But now it was agony, it just wasn't fair she felt like she couldn't escape him. Not only was he constantly leaving her messages, he was on her mind, in her dreams and he had to be in the same small room as her. She felt like she wanted to scream.

She knew one place Troy would not go to was the library. She wondered if he even knew where it was.

Gabriella's plans for the library were interrupted when she felt her right arm being tugged on and her body being pulled into the math room further down the corridor from her locker. She almost screamed but suddenly felt safe when her eyes locked on the ocean blue orbs that made her weak at the knee.

'Damn it Gabriella, stop thinking like that. You hate him now remember.'  
"Gabriella" Troy started and pulled her further into the room then stood in front of the door, her only escape. "Please just let me talk to you, I really need to explain." Gabriella looked into his pleading eyes and found herself losing a battle. Did she at least owe it to him to explain?  
"Go" she winced as he let out a breath. He stepped towards her expecting her to welcome his touch but she took a step backward. "I'm willing to hear you out but I'm not willing for you to touch me." Her brown eyes turned to grey. As much as she wanted his hands to touch her, she'd be damned if she gave into him.

He nodded and a pained expression appeared on his face. He hated himself right now.

"You've got to believe me Gab I did not kiss her. She kissed me." Gabriella let out a shrill laugh.  
"Troy what's the difference? You didn't pull away you didn't make any effort to fight her off." He nodded, yes that was true.  
"You knew what she was doing yet you didn't stop her and I want to know why. Why would you do that?" Tears welled up in her eyes and he could see by the expression on her face and how her voice broke that the pain was deeper than he anticipated.  
"I didn't mean to, I swear Gabi I never wanted any of this to happen." He let out a frustrated sigh and held his hands up in defeat.  
"Then why did you let it?"  
She ran from him. In his quest to touch her he had moved away from the door, just far enough so her petite frame could squeeze between Troy's body and her escape route.  
She left a lost boy behind who collapsed onto the floor not caring who witnessed his moment of weakness.__

"You should've said no, you should've gone home  
You should've thought twice before you let it all go"

"You never had to let her lips touch you Troy. You didn't even have to be at the party." A tear trickled down Gabriella's cheek. She sat down on her bed and threw her head against the wall. "You should've thought twice before you let it all go." She closed her phone and threw it at the door witnessing it smashing to pieces. She didn't try to stop the tears that were flooding her cheeks, she needed to let them out.  
_  
"You should've known that word, about what you did with her  
Would get back to me..."_

"Dude were you honestly not going to tell her?" Chad and Troy were practicing out the Bolton's back garden. Troy stopped in his tracks and looked to his best friend.  
"Of course I was going to tell her. But I didn't realise that the entire student body would find out the next morning before I had chance to get to her." Troy shot the basketball at the hoop and missed, resulting in an angry yell.  


"Seriously Troy, it's you are you really surprised that Gabriella found out the moment she got to school?" Troy decided it was time to take a break after missing yet another shot and threw himself on the grass.  
"What the hell am I going to do?" Troy covered his face with his hands.  
"Honestly dude I don't know. Taylor said Gab's pretty heartbroken and I don't know if you can fix this one." Troy prayed that Chad was wrong there must be something he could do to get her back.  
_  
"And I should've been there, in the back of your mind  
I shouldn't be asking myself why  
You shouldn't be begging for forgiveness at my feet...  
You should've said no, baby and you might still have me"_

Troy was sat outside on Gabriella's balcony waiting her to finish dinner with her mother so he could talk to her. He decided to watch her for a few moments before he made his presence known.

He watched as she entered the room, he had never seen her look so distressed. Her usual perfect curls were frizzy and her face looked tired. Troy's heart broke in two when he saw the look in her eyes as she gazed at the collage of pictures Troy had made her of the two of them for her birthday. He watched as she traced the happy moments with her fingers, wishing they could go back to those days.

She turned to go into her bathroom and caught him staring intently at her. Her heart sunk seeing him standing on her balcony. How dare he think that he had any right to climb to see her like he used to. He lost those privileges when he kissed someone else. __

"You can see that I've been crying  
And baby you know all the right things: to say  
But do you honestly expect me to believe  
We could ever be the same..."

Gabriella walked towards her balcony doors and stopped eyeing her hands on the lock. Before her mind had time to protest against what she was doing she unlocked the doors and opened the two, her eyes never leaving Troy's intense blue eyes.

"I love you Gabriella." She closed her eyes. She couldn't look at him anymore, maybe if she couldn't see him then his words wouldn't sting as much. He saw tears begin to drop silently on her cheeks and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her.

His own tears slipped down his cheeks, mixing with hers.  
"I'm so sorry. I should have pushed her off me the moment her lips touched mine, hell if I could I'd go back and push her away when I realised she was flirting. " He felt her stiffen at his words 

and tightened his grip on her body, pulling her closer to him.  
"Please Gabriella I don't know what to do here." He pulled away from her so he could look into her lost brown eyes, keeping his firm grip on her.  
"I'm a mess without you. My life it's nothing without you in it, you're the only thing that's important to me. Nothing compares to you and I know that I've hurt you, but it's hurt me too." She tried to free herself from his grip but he only tightened it, he was too strong for her.  
"Every time I see you I have to stop myself from kissing you, I miss looking into these eyes, the eyes that sparkle when you smile. I miss the way you bite your lip when you're nervous." He traced her lip with his hand.  
"I miss kissing these lips." He lowered his face to hers and pressed his lips against his. He was surprised when he felt Gabriella kiss back.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, embedded in his embrace. His tongue traced her bottom lip granting entrance and she willing accepted. The need for him overwhelmed her. She needed this, she needed him. He lifted her body so she was able to wrap her legs around his torso while he made his way to her bed and dropped their bodies onto it, never breaking the kiss.

Gabriella tugged at his shirt and Troy broke the heated kiss allowing her to slip it over his head. Once it was off he returned his lips to hers. Troy hovered over Gabriella as he tried to take her black vest top off her body. She allowed him to pull it over her head and locked her eyes on him as he began to delicately trace her curves. She watched as his chest rose and fell, trying to catch his breath from the intense kisses they had shared.

'What was she doing? He cheated on her. Those lips that were just on hers had betrayed her and kissed someone else's and she let them touch her?

Gabriella traced her lips not believing what had just happened. Just as Troy was about to kiss her again she stopped, pushing gently against his chest. He stopped and stared at her bringing his hand to rest on hers on his chest.  
_  
"You say that the past is the past, you need one chance  
It was a moment of weakness and you said yes..."_

"Gabriella" his eyes pleaded with hers. "Just give me more chance, everyone deserves a second chance. I never thought that she'd kiss me, I just...I was shocked when she did and I didn't know what was happening. I swear." She continued looking at him, she believed him. That wasn't the hard part, the hard part was knowing that he didn't think of her when he kissed back.  
"Everyone has weak moments. Don't let this, us go because of my stupid moment of weakness." He moved closer to her body and held her face in his hands.  
"This can't be the end." He wiped away the tears that started to flow down her face.

"_You should've said no, you should've gone home  
You should've thought twice before you let it all go  
_

_You should've know that word, bout what you did with her  
Would get back to me...  
And I should've been there, in the back of your mind  
I shouldn't be asking myself why  
You shouldn't be begging for forgiveness at my feet...  
You should've said no, baby and you might still have me"_

Gabriella covered Troy's hands with her own and after a few seconds of basking in the feel of them on her face, she removed them.  
"I should have entered your mind Troy." She kept her eyes closed tight, she didn't think she'd have the courage to say these things to him if she took one look into his eyes. She knew that she would lose herself in him and she couldn't allow herself to do that, no matter how much she wanted to.  
"I have asked myself why every single day since I found out. Why I wasn't in the back of your mind, why you would allow our relationship to be ruined in a second, why you would do that to us?" She finally opened her eyes to see tears trickling down his cheeks. But she made herself carry on. "You're begging me not to let this be the end, but Troy you are the one that ended it. When her lips touched yours, how did you not know that was the end?" Her voice broke, she didn't want it to be the end and he knew it.  
"No Gabriella" he grabbed her hands in his. "No it wasn't the end, I didn't want the kiss. Damn it I didn't want any of it." He pulled her body to his. "I want this, I want you." He kissed her lips. "I want these lips", her hands "these hands", her nose "this nose", her eyes "these eyes. I want you Gabriella, no one else." __

"I can't resist... before you go, tell me this  
Was it worth it...  
Was she worth this..."

"Was she worth it Troy?" Her voice was barely audible.  
"Wh-what?" His voice was strained by tears and the pain that was running through his veins. She locked her eyes on his.  
"Was she worth all this pain? Was she worth this?" Gabriella's voice was getting louder, angrier. "Was she worth all these tears that I have shed? Was she worth breaking my heart into a million pieces?" She pushed him. It felt good to shout and release her anger. "Do you hate me that much that you would do this to me? I loved you. I gave myself to you. Or is that all you ever wanted?" Troy stood from his position on the bed, attempting to move away from Gabriella.

"Is that all you wanted huh?" She pushed his body harder this time. "Is this all you ever wanted? Sex?" Tears were running down her cheeks, her hair was a mess, the pain in her eyes was shining through. He couldn't believe that he had led her to look like this, to feel like this. "Then take it Troy, go on. It's what you want right." She pushed him against the wall and pushed her body into his.

Gabriella wound her arms around his neck bringing his lips to her chest. "Do it Troy, take me. Just like you wanted." Troy finally restored his balance and grabbed her wrists.  
"Shut up Gabriella. Shut up." Anger flashed through his eyes and she couldn't believe what she had just done. Was it really her?  
"Jeez is that what you think? That all I wanted was to have sex with you? If that was the case wouldn't I have left by now? I love you. I want you, all of you. Not just the physical side but everything." He didn't care that he was crying any more in front of her, he needed her to understand. "You're the one that I want to wake up to, the one that I want to eventually have my children. And you know that that's scary as hell and maybe I let it all get to me and I made a mistake. My god Gabriella I'm not perfect. I know that I hurt you but you've got to believe me I never meant to, I'd never intentionally hurt you."

Before Gabriella's body collapsed to the floor he scooped her in his arms and carried her to the bed. He gently placed her body under the covers and sat beside her. She pulled on him, indicating that she wanted him to lie next to her. As soon as Troy's body slipped under the covers she clung to him, wrapping her arms and legs around him, nuzzling his neck.  
"I love you. I'm sorry, I know you're not in it for sex I was just angry." Troy kissed her shoulder.  
"I know babe, I know. Don't be sorry. I hate myself for causing you all this pain."  
After a few minutes silence Gabriella spoke up. "I just don't understand how things could go back to the way they were." Troy's heart broke at her words.  
"Of course it can Gabriella. It was a kiss, one stupid kiss that should never have happened. We can just forget about it. Please, let's just forget about it, I need you to. I can't lose you." She dug her nails into his back.  
The two bodies clung to each other.  
"I want you so much Troy." Gabriella whispered into his ear and pulled his face towards hers.

She kissed him hungrily.  
"I want you right now."  
She wasn't worth it. No one was worth their relationship. She knew that. He knew that. But he had to convince her of it.

"_No... no no no..."_

Troy and Gabriella lay together, limbs tangled as their naked bodies clung to each other glistening with sweat.  
"Promise me something?" Gabriella asked as she played with Troy's fingers.  
"Anything."  
"Never again" Troy wound his arms around her slim body and kissed her forehead.  
"Never Gabriella, I love you."  
" I love you too." Gabriella lifted her face from Troy's chest so she could kiss his lips and buried her head in his chest once more a soft smile playing on her lips. Things were back to the way they were, at last.


	5. I'm Only Me When I'm With You

Fifth shot is up.  
Thank you for the reviews and for adding my story to your story alerts for those who did!  
Sorry it's taken so long for me to update, I've been away and then with University starting back up things have been hectic!  
So here it is!

"_Friday night beneath the stars,  
in a field behind your yard,  
you and I are painting pictures in the sky."_

She was content. This was the only place that she could feel that way. Under the stars in his arms painting their future together.  
They hadn't got back to normal after the 'incident', they had grown stronger and closer than ever before. She knew that it had been a mistake that wasn't supposed to have happened. He never meant to hurt her. But that was in the past, way in the past. She forced the thoughts out of her mind as she looked to her left and blissfully smiled at Troy, who was currently pointing to a certain star in the sky.  
"...and that star, that star is the one that I'm going to get named after you. It's going to be yours Gabriella." Her smile grew as he kissed her temple.  
Yes, she definitely felt content.

"_And sometimes we don't say a thing;  
just listen to the crickets sing."_

Two weeks later they found themselves doing the exact same thing. They were positioned in Troy's backyard with his blue and green checked blanket comforting their bodies. Troy's arm circled Gabriella's waist as his other was interlaced with her fingers. Sometimes words were not needed, being in each other's arms and listening to the stillness of the night was all they could wish for._  
_

"_Everything I need is right here by my side.  
And I know everything about you  
I don't wanna live without you."  
_

"Troy?" the shadowed figure turned toward the whisper, he knew where she was even if he couldn't see her in the darkness of the room.  
He moved toward her frame on the bed and gently kneeled beside her. He said nothing, knowing that he needed to be quiet for her to tell him what was on her mind, that's the way they worked. He didn't need to pry. He didn't care if they sat in silence for three hours she would tell him when she was ready. He was relieved however, when he heard her voice, however much he 

loved his girlfriend waiting for her to say something sometimes took longer than necessary.  
"What are we going to do, about college?" Troy sighed heavily.

They had been having this exact conversation for two weeks, which always led into a heated discussion.  
"Gabriella..."  
"I mean we want different things. You want West coast I want East, what are we supposed to do?" He could hear the panic arising in her voice.  
"Gabriella..." he started again, attempting to silence her but yet again being unsuccessful.  
"Does one of us give up our dream of going to our dream school just because we may lose each other?" Gabriella sat up immediately, shocked at her own words. "Could we live with ourselves if we did that?"  
Troy cupped her face in his hands.  
"Gabriella can we for once just not talk about this please? We have plenty of time to decide what we are going to do, just please." He knew what look she was giving him even if he couldn't fully see it. It was the 'are you kidding me?' with the, 'are you actually trying to silence me?' look.  
"I don't care about college right now, I don't care that we want different things to do with school. Why should we let it rip us apart?" He moved closer to her, resting his forehead against hers and taking her hands in his.  
"Everything I need" his voice was barely a whisper, "is right here by my side. Right here in front of me. You Gabriella, you are all I need." Tears threatened to fall down his cheeks, but he knew he had to be strong and that Gabriella had already given in to hers.  
"It doesn't matter what happens Gabi, because I'm not going to live without you."  
"How do you always know the right things to say? You know exactly what I need to hear." She grazed her nose across his.  
"Because I know everything about you."

_  
"I'm only up when you're not down.  
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.  
It's like no matter what I do."_

"We did it Troy, we did it!" Gabriella came bounding into her boyfriends room, not noticing the grim look on his face.  
"We made it through to the finals of the Decathlon, can you believe it?!" Gabriella's smile disappeared when she saw the look on his face and the smile that usually graced his tanned cheeks had been replaced by tears. She slowly walked toward his bed where he sat, afraid of what he might say.  
"Wildcat what's the matter?" She sat at the edge of his bed, not knowing what to do. He lifted his head and locked his eyes with hers for the first time since she had entered his room.  
"It's my grandma, she's sick." He looked away and she inched closer to his body. "She's dying Gab." His eyes wouldn't meet hers, he only looked at the floor.

Gabriella's heart tore in two. She was at a Decathlon semi-final and her boyfriend was here, alone in pain. Not only that, but she had sprung into his room whilst he was dealing with the news. How could she be so heartless?  
"Gabriella don't look like that." Her eyes searched his face whilst he spoke, still not looking at her. "You're in the finals, go enjoy yourself. It's your last time, you should be celebrating." She couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
"Troy are you kidding me?" She moved further toward him and took his face in her hands. "The only place I want to be is right here, with you." Her eyes pleaded with his knowing he wasn't going to give in easily.  
"But Gabi..." She wasn't going to let him push her away.  
"I don't care Troy. No matter what happens, if you're down then I'm down. Just like you would be soaring for me today if your grandma was okay."  
He couldn't argue with her. Her words were perfect. She opened her arms to him and he crashed down into them. She feared for the way he clung to her, he'd never acted like this before. All thoughts of Decathlon were out of her head. All Gabriella wanted to do was take away the pain that her boyfriend was feeling, or at least share it with him.  
_  
"Well you drive me crazy half the time;  
the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.  
And I'm only me when I'm with you."_

"Well you're a jerk so I guess we're even then?" Gabriella stomped away from her boyfriend and into the ladies toilet of the mall.  
She couldn't believe her eyes when she and her two best friends, Taylor and Sharpay were walking through the mall when she her boyfriend and his friends turned the corner. He had lied to her, again. She thought that they were done with lies. Obviously not. She stalked over to where he was standing and without saying a word shoved him, gaining an angry look and a yelp from Troy. "Gabriella what the hell are you doing, are you crazy?" How dare he call her crazy.

Troy groaned and followed her lead. "Gabriella will you just stop and tell me what the hell that was about?" She stuck her head out of the toilet door.  
"You know exactly what it was about Troy Bolton." She jabbed his chest. "You said that you were playing basketball with the guys today, which was why you couldn't come to the mall with me to get a present for my mom's birthday. Then..." she continued poking him, forcing him to move backwards. "...you turn up here. What is that about?" Before Troy could open his mouth she carried on speaking. "You lied." He had found her cute before, the way she pushed him, even though it had physically hurt. He even found her cute the way she got angry with him, she looked flustered. But now, now she just looked defeated as he spotted the tears forming in her eyes. "You promised Troy, you promised no more lies." She brought her hands to her face as she let out the tears that had been threatening to fall.

Troy gathered her in his arms with no protest from the petite brunette. "Gabi I did not lie to you. The guys and I were playing basketball but then Taylor called Chad and said you had this distant look about you." He felt her body stop shaking, which meant the tears must have stopped too. "I came because the only way for you to be you is..." She finished the sentence before he could.  
"Is when I'm with you." She smiled and looked up at him. He spotted fresh tears growing in her eyes, but he knew that they were the good kind. Gabriella wrapped her arms around his neck. "You Wildcat drive me crazy, you know that?" He smirked.  
"You drive me crazy too." He huskily whispered in her ear, gaining a toothy grin from the girl in his arms. __

"Just a small town boy and girl  
living in a crazy world.  
Trying to figure out what is and isn't true."

"So this is it?"  
Troy and Gabriella stood by the post box near Troy's house. "It's now or never."  
Troy opened the hatch and allowed Gabriella to slip her envelopes in first and he followed.  
"Done" she smiled at him as he laced his fingers with hers.  
"It's down to fate now, it's out of our hands." She giggled, the heavenly sound forcing Troy's grin to widen. He tugged on her hands pulling her toward him. She sighed as his lips met hers in a slow, sensual kiss. He kissed her nose softly before pulling away and dragging her in the direction toward his house.  
_  
"And I don't try to hide my tears.  
The secrets or my deepest fears.  
Through it all nobody gets me like you do."_

"What if I don't get accepted Troy?" Troy turned to his girlfriend understanding how vulnerable she was feeling at that moment. "I've dreamt of going to Harvard my whole life, what if they reject me?"  
She knew that she shouldn't be thinking about college. It was her best friends' birthday party and she was freaking out over colleges instead of celebrating with her.  
"So what Gabriella?" She turned her head to look at Troy, unsure if it was he who had said those words. She knew by the look on his face that it was.  
"Excuse me?" she walked toward him. "Troy I'm freaking out here and all you can say is so what?" He sighed.  
"Yes Gabriella, so what. So what if you don't get into Harvard. You've applied to amazing colleges it's not all about Harvard. It won't end your life if you don't get in." He moved closer to her. "It's just a place Gab. It's not the end of the world. If you don't get in then you go somewhere else and have an amazing four years. You'll do amazing and meet amazing people. So why are you stressing about this?" Deep down she knew that he was right, but she couldn't 

believe that he was actually saying these things to her.  
He put an arm around her bringing her body closer to his. "So you don't get in, it's their loss. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. But right now is Taylor's birthday." They faced the living room where all their friends were situated, singing, laughing, playing games, enjoying themselves.  
"This is now Gab, our friends, Albuquerque and us." She entwined her fingers with his as he kissed her lips. "So quit worrying about college and enjoy our time left here together." He lifted her body with his arms as she squealed. He carried her into the party room and threw her body onto the settee throwing his body on top of her petite frame.  
"Troy Bolton get off me right now. " Gabriella was trying to sound stern, but gave into her giggles as she felt him kiss every inch of her face.  
He was right. This was now. He was now, why was she worried about college which was in the future, the distant future.  
All thoughts of college were cleared from Gabriella's mind as Troy's lips crashed down onto hers. This was definitely better than worrying about Harvard.

_  
"And you know everything about me.  
You say you can't live without me."_

Gabriella and Troy lay tangled in Gabriella's bed sheets with beads of sweat gracing their skin. Gabriella's mother was on a business trip in Boston, a long way away leaving a few days for Troy and Gabriella to enjoy some alone time.  
"You Wildcat are truly amazing." Troy smirked as he tried to get his breath back. He leaned over and kissed Gabriella's temple earning a smile from her.  
She sensed his distance, which puzzled her. He always held her afterwards, always showed affection toward her by playing with her fingers.  
"This isn't coming to an end Troy." She spoke softly. His eyes widened as he looked at her.  
"How did you..." She smiled.  
"Because I know everything about you too. You've been the one that has been assuring me this whole time, about college, about us. Well now it's my turn." She sat up covering her bare chest with the white sheet, drawing circles on his outstretched palm. "I'm not ready to live without you in my life. I'll never be ready to let you go, which is why I know for certain that this is going to work. Wherever we end up." He laughed at her words.  
"The tables sure have turned Montez." He nudged her with his shoulder and she giggled.  
Gabriella forced her way to Troy's chest, nuzzling his stomach.  
"You can't be Mr. Macho all the time Bolton, I need to pick you up sometimes too."  
He smiled and kissed her head.  
"You pick me up more times than you can imagine Gabi."

"_I'm only up when you're not down.  
Don't want to fly if you're still on the ground.  
_

_It's like no matter what I do.  
Well you drive me crazy half the time,  
the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.  
And I'm only me when I'm with you."_

"When I'm with anybody else it's so hard to be myself.  
Only you can tell."

"Gab come on tonight will be good for you. Troy's out of town and you need to spend time with the girls."  
She inwardly groaned. Today was the worst day of the year for Gabriella, it was the anniversary of her father's death. Not only was she feeling incredibly down today, but her boyfriend was out of town for his grandmother's funeral. Great. So what excuse could she make to her friends? She knew that they were trying to cheer her up, they meant well but she didn't want it.  
"Yeah sure, why not." She could hear Sharpay's high pitched squeals loudly down the phone.  
"Great, I'll call the others to tell them that we're on! Six sharp Gabriella. Oh and bring facemasks."  
Gabriella groaned loudly as she slammed her phone shut and threw it onto her bed. Why did she have to say yes?

Two hours later Gabriella, Taylor, Sharpay, Kelsi and Martha were seated in Sharpay's bedroom watching 'How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days' as Sharpay was painting Martha's nails.  
"Okay Martha's done. Who's next?" Her eyes landed on Gabriella.  
"Oh no Sharpay, honestly I don't want my nails painted." Gabriella spoke nervously as Sharpay made her way toward Gabriella.  
"Oh come on Gab, it's just a bit of fun, if you don't like it you can take it off."  
"No it's fine, I don't want..." Sharpay's voice cut her off.  
"But why not? Come on don't be a spoilsport." Something in Gabriella snapped when hearing Sharpay's words.  
"What? A spoil sport?"  
"Well yeah, you won't let me paint your nails."  
Gabriella's voice started to rise with every word. "Are you kidding me? It's the anniversary of my fathers' death today Sharpay and the one person that I need right now is out of town." Sharpay jumped at Gabriella's words. She had never heard her raise her voice before. "I agreed to come here when I really didn't want to. I wanted to sit alone in my room and for one day of the year allow myself to cry. Cry because he's not here anymore and all you care about is painting my nails?" Tears were streaming down her face.  
"I'm sorry Gabi, I didn't know. I was only trying to help." Sharpay looked at the other girls in the room who were equally amazed by Gabriella's words.  
Gabriella shook her head and started to gather her belongings.  
"Look I'm really sorry Sharpay. I know you were only trying to do something nice for me by 

inviting me and the girls over tonight. But it's just, not tonight okay? Any other night but tonight. I just need..." Gabriella's head whipped around at the sound of the door opening.  
"I'm sorry." The tears started to roll down her cheeks faster. "I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner." She launched herself into the arms of her boyfriend. He was here. He made it.  
"No. You're here and that's all that matters."

_  
"That I'm only up when you're not down.  
Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground.  
It's like no matter what I do.  
Well you drive me crazy half the time;  
the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true.  
And I'm only me  
Who I wanna be  
Well, I'm only me when I'm with you  
With you  
Uh huh  
Yeah"_

Gabriella was cuddled in Troy's embrace, under the stars in the field behind his backyard.  
"Thank you." She whispered into his chest.  
"For what?" He whispered back.  
"For rescuing me from myself tonight. I really needed you and then you appeared. I couldn't believe it." He snuggled closer into his warmth and sleep overtook her.  
"I'll rescue you from everything Gabriella. Forever." He kissed her lips. "Here, I have something for you." He pulled out a sheet of paper from his bag of 'goodies'.  
"What's this?" She asked as he handed it to her.  
"Take a look." He smiled at her as he saw the look of awe take over her features.  
"Is this real? Did you really do this?" He nodded his head and she launched herself into his arms for the second time that night.  
"It's right there" he said whilst pointing to the sky. "That's your star."

I hope you liked it!  
It's the longest chapter.  
This is my favourite Taylor Swift song, I hope you listened to it as you read it. It really is an amazing song.  
I've already come up with an idea for the next chapter so hopefully it will be up soon!  
Please review and tell me what you thought. Just to make sure that people are still reading!


	6. Stay Beautiful

**The sixth chapter is up.**

"_Cory's eyes are like a jungle  
He smiles, it's like the radio  
He whispers songs into my window  
In words nobody knows"_

'I love the way his eyes shine when he smiles'. Gabriella watched Troy intently as he was laughing at the story he was telling her about basketball practice that evening and something to do with Chad falling over. Troy turned to look at Gabriella and noticed that she wasn't paying attention to his words.  
"Gab?" his brow creased, why was she looking at him like that? "Gabi are you okay?"  
Gabriella awoke from her day dream and smiled. "Sorry I was just thinking..."  
"About..?" she smiled and caressed his cheek.  
"Your smile."  
He smirked and leaned in to connect their lips. "Yours is better" he whispered against her and brushed his lips across hers once again.  
"Come on I think it's time I took you home before your mom kills me."

It was 2am and Gabriella couldn't sleep. She'd had an amazing date with Troy, he always seemed to be on her mind recently. It seemed that no matter what she did he would always creep into her mind. Usually she would welcome those thoughts, but not when she actually desired some sleep. Gabriella was taken from her day dream when she heard a light tapping on her balcony, she abruptly sat up and turned on her light hoping to see her boyfriend outside her window. She smiled when she saw that it was, who else would be crazy enough to be knocking her balcony doors at 2am? She dreaded to think.

Gabriella reached the doors and unlocked them. "Troy what are you doing here? You know my mom's rules, no boyfriends after 11pm." She said as she opened them, revealing the boy to her naked eye.  
"So there's more than one eh Gabs?" He said playfully, she merely rolled her eyes.  
"Shut it Bolton, just tell me what you're doing here?" he smirked.  
"Well that's a nice welcome from my girlfriend, thanks Gab" once again she rolled her eyes. "But I couldn't sleep and wanted to see you so, I ended up here. I hope that's okay." The innocent look on his face softened her features and her heart.  
"Of course it is." She stood on her tip toes and gently dragged her lips over his. "But you know my mom, if she finds you here she'll kill you." He wrapped his arms around her body.  
"I know but it's worth the risk if I get to do this..." He covered his lips with hers.

After thirty minutes of making out Gabriella ushered Troy from her house so that she could get some sleep. Ten minutes went by and she still couldn't force herself to sleep. "Seriously Bolton, do you know what you do to me?" Ever so quietly she could hear the sound of a guitar and soft words filling her ears. She smiled to herself, he knew she couldn't sleep.

"_There's pretty girls on every corner  
That watch him as he's walking home  
Saying, does he know  
Will you ever know  
You're beautiful  
Every little piece love"_

Gabriella knew that other girls admired the view of her boyfriend, hell she couldn't blame them she often found herself staring at him as he moved around the court, or if he was sleeping. She loved watching him sleep, knowing that she was the only girl that got to do it.  
She knew that girls often whispered about him as he walked the halls of East High or if he was just walking down the street asking "_does he know?" _and I think "_will he ever know?"_.  
Because he is beautiful, to me and to everyone else. But does he know that he is beautiful inside too? Make note to self, remind Troy how wonderful he is.

"_Don't you know  
You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone  
When you find everything you looked for  
I hope your life leads you back to my door  
Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful"_

"Seriously Gabi what if I don't get into college? I mean all I've ever wanted to do was play basketball what if I'm not good enough?" Gabriella watched as Troy paced the Bolton's living room. Mistakably Lucille Bolton had mentioned college to her son and his girlfriend at dinner and suddenly Troy started freaking out.  
Gabriella decided that Troy needed to stop pacing, he was making her dizzy. She stood from her spot on the couch and stilled Troy's body.  
"Troy seriously" her hands gripped his arms "why the hell are you pacing? You're going to be amazing do you know that?" He looked her in the eyes and saw the determined look shining through.  
"Ask anyone we know, you're really going to be someone how do you not see it? I do, your parents, Chad, Taylor everyone." He saw the sadness flash in her eyes. "And I get scared sometimes" she loosened her grip on him. "I get scared that when you find everything you're looking for you won't come back to me." Her eyes found the floor.  
"Gabi..." She silenced him. "No Troy let me finish." She looked back to his eyes and took his hands in hers. "I want you to know that I'm going to be so proud of you when you finally reach your dreams because you'll deserve every minute of it. I hope that when you've found everything you're looking for you'll come back to me." Troy had a look of disbelief on his face, was she really saying this to him? He loved her, she was part of his dreams.

"Promise me that even if we're not together, if we don't find our way back to each other if anything happens...that you'll stay beautiful." Troy saw the tears threatening behind Gabriella's words. "Promise me that you'll stay this amazing person, you'll never change.  
He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers "I promise" he whispered.

_"Cory finds another way to be  
The highlight of my day  
I'm taking pictures in my mind  
So I can save them for a rainy day"_

To say Gabriella was upset was an understatement. She had searched from 9am to 6pm for a prom dress, seriously who knew that it could be this hard? She, Taylor and Sharpay had briefly visited a few shops the previous week and she had found the perfect dress. Her mother had promised her that they would get it on Saturday. Much to Gabriella's dismay, the dress had gone by then and she had spent the entire day searching for another but had no luck.

She was currently sulking on her bed when she heard a knock on the door and before she could say anything she turned to see her boyfriend's head appear around the corner.  
"So what colour do I need to match?" Gabriella huffed in an annoyed tone and brought her knees to her chest and continued to staring out the window.  
Troy made his way over to her, a smirk playing on his face. "Didn't go well I'm guessing?"  
Gabriella turned to look at him. "Seriously Troy no jokes. It was the perfect dress and now it's gone. Some other girl will be wearing my dress whilst I'll be in a hideous one." She covered her face in her lap as Troy found it hard to make out the last few words.  
"Gabriella" he moved closer to her and kissed her head. "Whatever you wear you're going to look beautiful, the dress isn't what is going to make you beautiful on the night."  
"Hm, yeah right Troy." She looked up at him. "You didn't see the dress." He smiled as she allowed her head to rest on his chest.  
Troy ran his hands up and down Gabriella's arms, she leaned into his touch which was sending shivers down her spine.  
"Did you really love that dress Gabi?" he whispered in her ear and planted a tantalising behind her ear causing her to moan.  
"Yeah I did" she matched his pitch as she turned to kiss her jaw line.  
"And you wouldn't want to wear another dress?" She stopped kissing him and looked down at her hands.  
"I know it sounds stupid Troy but that was the dress." He hoped that she would say that.  
"Well then..." Troy turned to the side of the bed and picked up a bag. "It's good that I got the dress for you then huh?" Gabriella's eyes widened at his words.  
"What? You bought me the dress?" Troy nodded and handed the bag to his eager girlfriend. "But how did you know?" She was just about to pull it out as his hands stopped her.  
"I gave Taylor and Sharpay my card, they said that you didn't want me to see it. I don't even know what colour it is or anything so maybe you could give me a heads-up?" She launched herself into his arms almost forcing them to the floor.

Gabriella planted his face with kisses. "Oh Troy I love you, I love you, I love you!"  
He chuckled. "I love you too."  
She kissed his awaiting lips and moved out of his reach to look at him.  
"What are you doing?" she smiled.  
"Saving the picture for a rainy day."

_  
"It's hard to make conversation  
When he's taking my breath away  
I should say, hey by the way  
You're beautiful  
Every little piece love"_

It was prom night, the night that Gabriella had been waiting for for weeks. She was currently in the arms of her boyfriend, dancing to a slow song in East High's gym.  
Troy was watching Gabriella closely trying to read her thoughts.  
"Hey Gabi" he whispered in her ear "penny for your thoughts? You've been quiet tonight. Is there something wrong?" She smiled.  
"Nothing. This is perfect. I'm just lost for words." She nuzzled her nose against his "you Troy Bolton know how to take my breath away."

" _don't you know  
You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone  
When you find everything you looked for  
I hope your life leads you back to my door  
Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful  
If you and I are a story  
That never gets told  
If what you are is a daydream  
I'll never get to hold, at least you'll know  
You're beautiful  
Every little piece love, don't you know  
You're really gonna be someone, ask anyone  
When you find everything you looked for  
_

Gabriella was sitting in Troy's room after prom. They had gone to after party at Sharpay's but escaped early to get some time to themselves, after all it was prom night. Troy was grabbing a few things that he had 'prepared' earlier for them whilst Gabriella was looking around his room. She noticed all the trophies and the pictures, pictures that were mainly of her or of them together.  
She traced the picture of them the night East High had won the State Championship. Troy was dressed in his basketball kit swinging around a giggly Gabriella merely minutes after winning.  
"Gabriella" Troy called up the stairs tearing her away from her thoughts.

She gently touched their bodies "life better lead you back to my door Troy Bolton."  
"Gabi what are you doing? Come downstairs" Gabriella turned to see Troy standing in the doorway; his tux jacket was still wrapped around her arms. She hugged it tighter to her and took her boyfriends outstretched hand and followed him downstairs.

"_I hope your life leads you back to my door  
Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful"_


	7. A Perfectly Good Heart

**The seventh chapter is up! **

"_Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?  
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart, now?  
Why would you wanna make the very first scar?  
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?"_

Gabriella sat in tears in her room, her room that was now causing her even more heartbreak. Everything in it reminded her of him. She wouldn't dare think or say his name, she couldn't he had broken her heart.  
She thought back to a few hours before, even though things between them hadn't been the same she had put it down to distance and stress. Sure she lived the other side of the country but they had promised, he had promised that everything would stay the same. They would always be together, but he broke that promise and her heart too.

_Earlier that day.  
Gabriella had arrived back from Boston ready to see her boyfriend. To say she was excited was purely an understatement, how could she not be? She hadn't seen Troy in months. Her first year of college was over, which meant the whole gang would be back and she would get to see them all. Sure she was excited to see Taylor and Sharpay, but Troy was the only person she cared about seeing right now. She had arrived in Albuquerque the night before and was now on her way over to Troy's. He had had an early flight back and Gabriella could not wait another second to see him.  
She approached the Bolton household and smiled, it felt like home and she loved that feeling. Lucille opened the door to her and squealed at the sight of her son's girlfriend. She loved Gabriella who she referred to as 'the daughter she never had'. The two exchanged brief words and a hug. Lucille could see the anxious look in Gabriella's eyes and knew who she really wanted to see, "he's in his room" she whispered and gave a knowing grin then disappeared into the kitchen.  
Excitedly Gabriella took the stairs two at a time and took a deep breath before entering Troy's room. She knocked quietly and called his name as she entered. His head whipped around and smiled, but Gabriella didn't notice the sad smile on her boyfriend's face, she was too wrapped up in her emotions of seeing him again. He looked good, real good. She let her eyes wander over his body before she ran to him and launched herself in his arms. It felt good to be back in those arms.  
He lifted her up as she wrapped her legs around his torso, it felt so natural.  
"I missed you" she whispered in his ear. Troy winced as her breath hit his cheek, this was going to be so hard to do._

_  
"Maybe I should've seen the signs, should've read the writing on the wall.  
And realised by the distance in your eyes that I would be the one to fall."_

Gabriella had decided to unpack her things, hoping that it would take her mind off her, she winced 'ex-boyfriend'. It felt strange to think of Troy as her ex. She was determined not to cry anymore, that day. She needed to distract herself, but it only made things worse. She picked up a box and opened it, ready to empty the items but froze when she saw the picture lying at the top. She picked it up and traced the face of the boy that had broken her heart that same day. It was a picture that Taylor had snapped of them in the park a few days before the gang had left for college. Gabriella was on Troy's back playing around and the smile that graced her face was the happiest she had ever witnessed herself. Taylor had called it a picture of 'pure bliss'.  
"Hmf" Gabriella scoffed "yeah right, pure bliss." She threw the picture across the room and curled up in a ball on her bed.  
How hadn't she seen it coming?

"_Gabriella I really need to talk to you." Troy's words were softly spoken as he clung to her, he didn't want to do this but it was for the best. For the both of them. Gabriella's body froze as his frightened words reached her. 'This can't be good' she thought.  
He allowed her legs to drop to the floor, but not before he breathed in her scent one last time.  
"Maybe you want to sit down?" The look in his eyes only meant one thing, the words that she had been dreading all year long.  
"No" she shook her head "I want to stand." The look on her face broke his heart in two, he loved her of course he did, but their relationship just wasn't right anymore.  
"Gabriella you know how I feel about you." She closed her eyes, this was it. The break-up speech. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she continued to listen to his words, hoping that she was dreaming.  
"...But this, us it's just getting too hard. We both have so much going on in our lives right now, things that the other doesn't understand." His eyes dropped to her floor, he couldn't believe that he was actually doing this. "I just don't see how it could possibly work." Her eyes fluttered open at his words.  
"Troy" she said a little harshly, "we've been doing it for a year now." He shook his head.  
"Yeah I know and you can't say that it's not hard. I mean we never get to see each other, we barely talk anymore Gabi how can we go on like this?" His eyes were pleading with hers, pleading for her to understand. She stood there in silence not knowing what to say. The emotions that were running through her weren't allowing her to comprehend what was going on in front of her. Was this actually happening?  
"Basketball is just taking up all of my time right now. I mean when you came to visit, you left early because coach sprung unexpected training on us. I love it, I love every minute of it but it's just not fair to you." Her heart stopped.  
"Oh no, don't you dare blame this on me." More tears slipped down her cheeks. Troy's heart broke even more. He took a step toward her.  
"I'm not blaming you Gabi not at all. But you deserve something..." he looked away "someone who can give you more because right now I'm not that person." _

"_No matter what you say, I still can't believe  
That you would walk away.  
It don't make sense to me"_

The words stung her as she thought over what he had said. 'I'm not that person'.  
How could he do this to her? To them? Did he not love her anymore?  
_  
"Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?  
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart, now?  
Why would you wanna make the very first scar?  
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?"_

"_Please Gabi, please don't look at me like that I can't stand it." Something inside her snapped when he said that to her.  
"Excuse me? So not only am I being told how to feel but now I'm being told how to look?" Anger took over her body and mind, unconsciously leading to her taking a step toward Troy.  
"You have done this to us Troy not me. Of course I understand that Basketball is important to you, how could I not. But why is there only room for one thing in your life, why not two?"  
He moved toward her ready to brush away the tears.  
"Don't" she held her hand. "Don't touch me."  
"Please don't be like this." Her eyes widened.  
"What do you expect me to be like Troy?"  
"Come on Gabs, don't you think that it's for the best? Didn't you see that we were drifting?"  
She laughed. "Of course I did but then again stupid me thought that this summer would fix it. I thought that if I just saw you then it would all be fine. Because I love you." She really didn't mean to let that slip. She moved backwards. "I should go."  
Troy jumped forward. "No, I just need you to know something." She slowly turned to face him.  
"I do love you Gabi" tears formed in his eyes "and it kills me to do this, it really does. But I want you to know that I do love you. It's just that we both have separate lives it's not like it was before."  
He had always been able to read her expressions, but now she was just a blank slate to him. He didn't know what she was thinking.  
"Don't call me Gabi you have no right anymore and you don't love me Troy." Tears freely flew down her cheeks. "You can't love me if you're doing this." She looked into his eyes. "You just can't"  
She flew from his room without looking at him. She had to get out of there.  
Troy remained in the same spot, tears now freely rolling down his cheeks._

"It's not unbroken anymore.  
How do I get it back the way it was before?"

Taylor and Sharpay entered Gabriella's room, they had heard what had happened from Zeke and Chad who were currently comforting a heartbroken Troy. Sharpay pointed to the still form on the bed curled up hugging something.  
"Gabriella?" Sharpay whispered as she and Taylor neared the bed. "Are you awake?"  
Gabriella reached to turn on the lamp and her best friend's faces dropped when they saw the sight of her. She was dressed in her flannel pyjamas, a tear stained faced and hugging close to her was Troy's East High Basketball jacket.  
"Aw Gab" Taylor sat next to her and Gabriella's rested her head on her lap. The tears started again and Taylor looked at Sharpay to aid her. She had no idea what to do. Sharpay joined the two girls on the bed and stroked Gabriella's hair not knowing what to say to her either.  
"Why? Why would he make the very first scar?" Gabriella whispered as she looked straight ahed of her, not able to look at her friends. A tear dropped down Sharpay's face .  
" I feel like I can't breathe, I can't breathe."  
"Shh Gab, everything's going to be okay you'll see." Taylor cradled her head in her lap.  
"How is it ever going to be okay? He's gone." __

"Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?  
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart, now?  
Why would you wanna make the very first scar?  
Why would you wanna break, would you wanna break a perfectly good heart?"  



	8. Cold As You

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, added me to their favourite stories and author lists and story and author alerts it means a lot!  
To the request of 'Mary's Song' and 'I'd Lie' I am trying to think of a way to fit them into the story if not then I will definitely do a one-shot on their own.  
There's not many chapters left now, maybe two just to give you a heads up.  
The eighth chapter is up!**

"_You have a way of coming easily to me  
And when you take, you take the very best of me"_

Why was she here, it was going to be too hard. She knew it yet she let her best friends talk her into it. It had been two weeks since Troy had broken up with her and they had forced her to leave the house. It was the first time that Gabriella would see the whole gang since that day, including him.  
"Gabriella come on it's time to leave" Sharpay shouted up her stairs to her best friend. "The guys will be waiting for us." Gabriella winced at her words.  
'Oh yeah great don't keep _him_ waiting it's unfair.' She rolled her eyes, took a look in the mirror and inhaled a large breath then made her way down the stairs to where her best friends were waiting for her.

With Troy and the rest of the gang.  
"So dude have you spoken to Gabriella since...you know?" Troy looked at his curly haired best friend and shook his head.  
"You know that she's been a mess right? Taylor said that she has refused to leave the house." Troy closed his eyes. He knew that she had refused, he had been watching her. When he couldn't sleep he would walk to Gabriella's house and watch her sleeping through her balcony doors. He still loved her. It wasn't that he didn't love her, his feelings would never change but he didn't want to hurt her. Although it was a bit too late for that.

Troy was shook from his thoughts when he saw Sharpay's car pull up to the entrance of the mall. He took a deep breath this was going to be a long day. He watched as Taylor opened the passenger door and gave Troy a stern look, probably telling him to make an effort of some kind. Then he saw her. She opened the back door to the pink car and shyly looked over to the group. She was beautiful. Even with tired eyes she still looked beautiful to him, she always would. His heart leapt when he looked at her. He hated this, but he kept telling himself that it was for the best.

Gabriella looked over to the group and noticed Troy looking intensely at her, as she connected her eyes with his he broke the gaze and headed inside with Jason. Gabriella shook her head.

"_So I start a fight cause I need to feel something  
And you do what you want cause I'm not what you wanted"_

Why was he trying so hard to ignore her? He was the one that had broken up with her how dare he not try to talk to her. Of course if he did then she would not allow him to but he wasn't even trying.

The gang had spent the day wandering the mall and then went to their favourite place to eat, Nandos. Gabriella smiled when they entered, she loved this place.  
"Oh hey you guys I'll be right back I'm just going to get some cash." Taylor was about to stop Gabriella as she left but was too late.  
"That'll be interesting." She shook her head.  
"Maybe they'll talk if they're alone?" Chad enquired. Somehow 'talking' was not what Taylor was worried about.

Gabriella was ruffling through her purse and didn't notice that she was headed straight for someone until strong hands gripped her shoulders.  
"Oh I'm sorr..." Brown eyes met blue. "Oh." The stare was intense, neither could tear their eyes away from the others. "Sorry." She managed to breathe out.  
"It's fine." He noticed that his hands were still holding her and coughed as he took them away, breaking their gaze.  
"I better get back..." Troy motioned toward Nando's and went to move but Gabriella stopped him.  
"So this is how it's going to be Troy? Three years together and you ignore me?" Troy's heart broke at her delicate words.  
"Of course not Gabi, I just thought that maybe it was too soon. You wouldn't want me to try?" She nodded.  
"It is too soon, but I thought that you'd at least try. But then again you didn't want me so why bother talking." She stormed to the ATM and left him standing in the middle a crowd of people confused.

"_Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day  
Just walk away, ain't no use defending words that you will never say  
And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through  
I've never been anywhere cold as you"_

The rest of the day Gabriella hadn't even made eye contact with Troy. The few words that they had shared had made her want to break down. But having him ignore her was the worst. But she had held up the entire day and felt pleased with herself.

Gabriella entered her bedroom feeling relaxed after a long bath. She changed into her pyjama shorts and vest top, tied her wet hair up and laid on her bed ready to read her current book.  
She was oblivious to the blue eyed boy who was currently climbing her balcony to see her. Gabriella's eyes widened as a familiar figure burst through the unlocked doors. She muffled a scream as she saw a drenched Troy standing before her.

"What did you mean earlier when you said that you aren't what I wanted?" Gabriella was still in shock of his appearance and hadn't registered his words.  
"Troy...what...what are you doing here?" Gabriella moved towards the edge of the bed and noticed he was soaking wet.  
"Let me get you a towel." Before he could object she was already walking back out of her bathroom with a clean towel and was handing it to him. He gratefully took it, he was freezing.  
"Did you walk here in the storm?" He nodded. "Why?" she whispered, afraid to know the truth. She didn't want her heart broken all over again.

"What did you mean earlier when you said that you aren't what I wanted Gabriella?" She was taken aback by his words.  
"What?" She was still in shock and couldn't believe that he was actually standing in front of her.  
"You said that you aren't what I wanted. Did you not listen to a word that I said to you two weeks ago?" Anger took over the shock she was feeling.  
"Not listen to a word? No I think I got everything you said Troy."  
"Well you obviously didn't Gabi, how can you think that you aren't what I want?" She laughed.  
"Seriously you're asking me how can I think that? You broke up with me Troy, you said that it was too hard and that we were drifting. How can I not think that?" He closed the distance between them and held her hands in his.

"_You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray  
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away  
And you come away with a great little story  
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you"_

"I still love you. It's not about me not loving you or not wanting you, because I'm always going to feel this way, forever." Tears were now rolling down her cheeks.  
"Then why? Just tell me why if you love me so much Troy?" He cupped her face in his hands and brushed away her tears delicately with his thumbs.  
"Because I love you too much. If we mess this up, if we stay together and let us die out then there will be no hope for us in the future." Her eyes widened as he continued to speak.  
"This isn't goodbye forever. It can't be. I need to know that there is still hope for us because I'm always going to love you. If we need to take a break right now until the end of college to keep us together then I'm willing to do that." He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face so that her eyes would meet his.  
"Hey" he whispered "what's a few years without each other compared to a lifetime?"

_  
"Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day"_

"I love you Troy, but I can't just put my life on hold." He was shocked by her words, believing that she would think that it was a good idea.  
"How about not looking back or forward, just living in the moment." She pushed him away from her and walked over to her balcony doors.

"If you loved me enough then you wouldn't want to spend one day not hearing my voice, because that's how I feel about you." Her eyes bore into his.  
"It has been driving me crazy these past two weeks not hearing your voice, at least I had that when we were in college. I miss everything, and to think that I have to go without it for the next few years because you're scared that we may not end up together for good, makes me not want it at all." She whispered the last few words.

Her eyes locked with his, she knew that he was fighting the tears but she had to tell him how she felt, he had told her and now it was her turn.  
"You don't feel for me what I thought you did, or how you did before you left."

_  
"Just walk away, ain't no use defending words that you will never say"_

"I think you should leave."  
"Gabriella..." Troy reached out to her but she stood back.  
"Please Troy, I can't do this. I can't be part of a future plan that may or may not happen, ever." She locked eyes with him.  
"You chancing our relationship like that just proves that it doesn't mean as much to you, and I can't be involved in something where it's a one way system. It's fine, I can cope. You just don't love me anymore."  
His heart broke.  
"If that's what you think then fine." He stalked toward the balcony doors. "But just know this Gabriella, I will never stop loving you. But if this is your decision then fine." He walked out of the doors and was about to climb down when he hear her voice and then the slam of a door.  
"No Troy, it's yours."  
_  
"And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through  
I've never been anywhere cold as you.  
You never did give a damn thing honey but I cried, cried for you  
And I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you"_

Gabriella finished telling Taylor and Sharpay the story about Troy's visit the night before as they made their way out of Starbucks after an afternoon coffee.  
"Wow, I didn't expect that. It was pretty deep of him." Gabriella scowled at Sharpay's words.  
"He's just trying to make the break-up easier on himself coming up with all that crap." The girls stopped as they came face to face with the person they had just been discussing.  


"It's nice to know that you still feel that way." His blue eyes were darker, colder than usual. Just looking at them caused Gabriella to shiver. She avoided his gaze and fixed her eyes on the floor. She could hear Chad making small talk with the girls beside her, but she couldn't get passed the tension.

She could feel his eyes on her, but still refused to look up.  
"Hey guys do you mind if I talk to Gabi for a second?" His words stunned everyone; they even managed to wake Gabriella from her thoughts.  
"Um" Taylor looked to Gabriella and then back at Troy.  
"Sure we'll just be over here by the fountain." Sharpay pulled Chad and Taylor away from the other two.

"What do you want to talk about?" Gabriella shifted nervously under his gaze.  
"Just that I have some of your things and I thought that maybe you'd want them back, so when do you want me to drop them off?" Gabriella's heart skipped a beat.  
She was finding this harder than she expected. Yes she was mad at him, yes she had said that she had wanted nothing to do with him but still, hearing him talk about exchanging belongings made the whole thing seem so real.  
"Um you can drop them off later if you want I have a few of your things too."  
He nodded and then made his way over the others. __

"Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day  
Every smile you fake is so condescending  
Counting all the scars you made"

The first thing Gabriella noticed about the change in Troy was how he used the front door and not her balcony door. In the whole three years that they had been going out he had hardly ever used the front door, it just became habit.  
He followed her up the stairs and placed a box with her things in on her bed. She looked through and found some nail polish, bobbles, some CD's and DVD's and her teddy. She smiled, thankful that she had some support. She picked it up and hugged it to her.  
"I forgot that I left this at your house." A smirk played on both of their lips remembering how it had got to be there in the first place.  
Troy took a seat on her bed. "You were pretty scared that night." Gabriella yelped and sat next to him, still hugging the bear.  
"Hey my mom was away and you know how much I hate storms, they scare me." He smirked.  
"Yeah but you didn't have to bring your bear along." He poked her and took the bear off her. She giggled and grabbed it off him, poking him back.  
"Hey he keeps me safe okay." He chuckled.  
"Sure a stuffed toy keeps you safe, that's why you came to my house that night." He nudged her with his shoulder, causing them both to smile.  
"You know" Gabriella started and looked at him. "The only place I've ever felt so safe is in your 

arms." She stopped and looked to the floor, fiddling with the bear in her arms. "That's why I came to your house that night. You just make me feel safe."

Troy had to fight the urge to take her in his arms to make her feel safe again. He hated this whole thing, but he couldn't sacrifice their relationship, she'd understand one day. She had to because he wasn't prepared to lose her for good. Never.

She stood up and picked up the box that was sat on her desk, holding all of his possessions that he had left with her.  
"Here" she offered it to him and he started to look through it, instantly noticing his East High Basketball jacket.  
"Gab I have this to you, it doesn't belong to me anymore. This is yours." He chuckled seeing a few of his tshirts. "Seriously you think that I want these? I haven't seen these shirts in over two years. Now I know where they got to."  
She laughed.  
"Yeah I do love wearing your clothes."  
"And I love seeing you in them."

It suddenly became awkward again.  
"I better go." Gabriella nodded; it was getting to comfortable again. They were falling back into place and it scared her because it couldn't happen. They were broke up.  
He stood and made his way to her.  
"Here" he held out his basketball jacket to her. "Please I wouldn't feel right taking it from you. You love this jacket." She smiled, not knowing whether to take it or not.  
"Please Gabriella. Besides, it looks better on you." Her smile grew and she took the offered jacket from his arms.  
"Thank you." Tears were evident in her eyes and she was determined for him to leave so he wouldn't see them spill onto her cheeks.  
"Your welcome." Gabriella noticed the tightness in Troy's voice, understanding that this was just as hard for him as it was for her.  
"So I guess I'll see you around?" The words broke both of their hearts, 'see you around'. But what else was there left to say?  
"Yeah" she choked "see you around." He offered her one last smile and left by the way he came.

Once her bedroom door was shut she launched herself onto her bed and broke down in tears. This was it. It was over.  
Gabriella was shocked when she heard a soft knock on her bedroom door and looked up to see Troy's head poking through.  
"Sorry I left my..." Gabriella turned to see his jacket hanging on the post of her bed.

"Aw Gabi" he made his way toward her and took her in his arms. She clung to him like her life depended on it. His own tears matched hers. She buried her face in the crook of his neck as he 

placed kisses on her head.  
"Please" he whispered in her ear "please don't cry. I hate it when you cry."  
She lifted her face from his neck to look at his face, noticing the tears falling down his cheeks. Without a second thought she lifted her lips to his cheeks and kissed them away. Troy closed his eyes, feeling the sensations running through his body at the touch of her lips on his cheeks, inching closer to his lips.

She pulled away and watched his eyes intently, wondering what he was going to do next.  
He crashed his lips down on hers. She gasped and this gave Troy entry to her mouth. Her tongue joined his as it became a battle between the two broken hearts. She moved herself closer to him and wrapped her legs around his torso, he picked her up and slammed her against her bedroom wall, never breaking the kiss. Hands were everywhere, trying to remember the last time that they had done this. It had been too long.

Tears were still rolling down both of their cheeks as Troy's lips attacked every inch of Gabriella's face and neck. Finally finding her weak spot she moaned his name as he made his mark on her.

"Gabriella I'm home." Gina Montez shouted up the stairs. Troy and Gabriella, in shock lifted their heads but kept their bodies close together.  
"I'll be down now Mom." Gabriella was surprised that she could muster her voice to make a sound.  
Gabriella's eyes searched Troy's face, as his were locked on the piece of wall behind her. Her legs were still wrapped around his torso and their arms around each other.  
"I think that's my queue to leave." His voice was barely a whisper.  
Gabriella nodded and her eyes found his. He released her legs and her feet stood firmly on the floor. Their erratic breathing was going back to normal, but their bodies were still touching. Neither wanting to break the contact with the other.

"No matter what you think Gabi, I love you. It hasn't lessened, it never will." She nodded.  
He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers before disappearing out of the door.

_"And now that I'm sitting here thinking it through  
I've never been anywhere cold as you."_


	9. The Outside

**I've decided to end the story in the next chapter. I've loved writing this and the encouragement from you guys has been amazing! Thank you so much, it has definitely encouraged me to want to write more High School Musical fiction so I hope you look out for that in the future! But for now ...  
This is the last but one chapter, it's a bit shorter than usual. Not much dialogue, its purpose is to set up the time difference and the way the way I want it to end in the next chapter.  
The ninth chapter is up!  
**_  
"I didn't know what I would find  
When I went looking for a reason, I know  
I didn't read between the lines"_

Gabriella was about to finish her second year of college which to her was very scary. She couldn't believe it, two years, and one year without Troy. That was the worst. A year without him. She had barely spoken to him. Sure they had seen each other after the day they had returned each other's possessions, but actually had a meaningful conversation? Not quite.  
She had had so much time to think about what Troy had said to her, to wait. Sure he had a point, but she just didn't understand how she couldn't be part of his life anymore.  
Okay, she admitted that she didn't read between the lines. When Troy had broken up with her she had ran, she was so scared and heartbroken that hearing what he had to say plain hurt. She knew why she ran, because deep down she knew that what he was going to say was right. But she refused to hear it.

Now she regretted the way she reacted. She missed him, she missed him so much. He wasn't just her boyfriend but her best friend too, this past year was the hardest of her life. She didn't know how she was going to go through the next two without him. __

"And, baby, I've got nowhere to go  
I tried to take the road less travelled by  
But nothing seems to work the first few times  
Am I right?"

Sure she had gone on dates, but it had never felt the same. With Troy she felt this connection with him, the way that he held her, the way they knew what the other was thinking. She loved the way he kissed her and touched her, his touch was gentle and his kisses filled with love. But these other guys that she went out with, she would always compare them to him. They would never be as good as him.__

"So how can I ever try to be better?  
Nobody ever lets me in  
I can still see you, this ain't the best view  
On the outside looking in  


_I've been a lot of lonely places  
I've never been on the outside"_

Gabriella had found it hard when she had gone home for the holidays, she hadn't been home since and now she was dreading being home for so long. She had seen him, the gang had met up at Nando's for a Christmas meal. She couldn't believe how different he had looked to her. She was so used to seeing him every day, or even talking to him that he never changed to her. But this time, they hadn't spoken in months which meant that she must have changed to his eyes too. They had shared brief words, but nothing like they used to.  
'I don't like this view of him', 'I want to be able to be with him again.'  
Gabriella thought back to when the break up had happened. Sure she had been heartbroken, but at least he had made an effort with her. Now he never made the effort, this was the loneliest she had ever felt in her entire life. __

"You saw me there, but never knew  
I would give it all up to be  
A part of this, a part of you"

Gabriella had travelled up to Duke to see Troy play in his Championship match. He was even better than she had remembered. She knew that he had seen her standing there, but she had escaped before he had chance to register her presence fully.  
She couldn't allow him to know that at that moment, seeing him there she understood. She was tempted to run into his arms and say that she would transfer to Duke just to be with him. At that moment Gabriella's heart and mind was set on just being with him. She didn't care about her dreams of becoming a doctor, she had new dreams now, dreams that included Troy. She wanted to be a part of his life again, she wanted to be a part of him. But she knew that it wasn't possible. It wasn't fair to either of them if she was to give up everything. She had faith in Troy, she trusted him. If he thinks that they should be apart through college and find their way back to each other after it then so be it. She was going to wait for him. Why? Because she loved him.  
_  
"And now it's all too late so you see  
You could've helped if you had wanted to  
But no one notices until it's too  
Late to do anything"_

Gabriella hated herself for the way she had acted towards Troy. Why had she told him that she wanted to give up? Of course she didn't, she was just hurt. But shouldn't he know that? He knew how much she loved him; surely he knew that she wouldn't be able to get over him easily.  
But was it too late? Had he moved it?  
'I guess I was too late to act. We haven't spoken in months, why would he think that I still want him?'__

"_So how can I ever try to be better?  
Nobody ever lets me in  
I can still see you, this ain't the best view  
On the outside looking in  
I've been a lot of lonely places  
I've never been on the outside"_

Gabriella walked into her old room, how she had missed this place. However it still didn't feel right, there was something missing.  
She tried to put her finger on it and smiled when she spotted a small picture cello taped to her mirror.  
She dragged her fingers over the smiling face.  
"Someday Troy, you'll know how I really feel." __

"So how can I ever try to be better?  
Nobody ever lets me in  
I can still see you, this ain't the best view  
On the outside looking in  
I've been a lot of lonely places  
I've never been on the outside."


	10. Tim McGraw

**Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. It's taken this long for me to decide how I wanted the story to go. Originally I only wanted 10 chapters, but whilst in the middle of writing the tenth chapter I realised how I wanted the story to end. So this is the last but one chapter. The final one is not going to be a Taylor Swift song, but a song by an artist very close to her heart. I can't wait to write the final chapter and get the story to where I want it to be! I know what song I'm using and exactly what I want to happen so it should be up soon! I am still learning, I'm still new at this so please tell me your thoughts, I love hearing criticism to make my writing and ideas improve. **

**Here's the tenth shot! **

_"He said the way my brown eyes shined__  
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night  
I said: 'That's a lie'."_

Gabriella stood outside her house. This was it. She was back. Four years of college had gone by pretty fast and she couldn't believe that she had said farewell to Boston and was back at home in Albuquerque. Gabriella had known that she would end up back in New Mexico after college, she and her mother had moved around enough. This was the only place that she truly felt at home. She loved it here, she had such wonderful memories and also some heartbreak. She shuddered. That was a long time ago, he'd probably forgotten all about her.

Gabriella walked up the steps to her room after a long day of unpacking. She didn't realise how much stuff she had accumulated at college, she was sure that she hadn't started out with that much stuff. She changed into her vest top and shorts ready for bed. An early night was in store for her. After all, the rest of the gang were returning home tomorrow and she knew that she was in store for a crazy week. She couldn't wait to see them all. She smiled to herself, thinking of her friends as she opened her closet doors to hang her clothes up that she had taken off a few moments before. Just as she was ready to close the doors a small shiney box caught the corner of her eye. "What's this?" she mumbled.

She moved the box to her bed and sat down, confused as to why she hadn't noticed it earlier. She carefully traced the lid of the box before taking it off, revealing to her the mystery that was inside. She gasped. There on the top of the box was a picture of her and Troy the weekend that he had taken her to Georgia to see her favourite country singer, Tim McGraw. She traced the picture as a small smile graced her lips. He had his arms around her dancing to her favourite song, looking into each others eyes. She laughed remembering Troy commenting on her eyes and how they put the stars to shame, she remembered saying that it was a lie. It definitely was a lie.

_"Just a boy in a Chevy truck  
__That had a tendency of gettin' stuck  
On backroads at night"_

Gabriella spent the remainder of the night going through the contents of the box before her. She smiled upon seeing a picture of Troy attempting to push his truck out of a ditch one evening. She laughed, she used to think that it was hilarious when he would get it stuck. He was laughing in the picture, obviuosly agreeing with her that it was kind of funny.

_"And I was right there beside him all summer long  
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone"_

A sad smile formed on her face when Gabriella came across the picture of the gang at their 'leaving for college' party. Troy left the day after the party. She noticed the distant look in her eyes as she forced a smile on her face for the purpose of the photo. That summer had been the best summer of her entire life and it was because she had spent it with him, with the only person that mattered to her. She wondered if that distant look in her eyes had ever disappeared after that night. She missed him, she still did. A lot. She forced the tears back and packed the box back up and slipped it under her bed. She turned off the light and got under the covers. No she wouldn't think about him, she wouldn't allow herself to. She made a promise not to miss him. It wasn't going to get him back.

_"But when you think Tim McGraw  
I hope you think my favorite song  
The one we danced to all night long  
The moon like a spotlight on the lake"_

Flasback:

_It was Troy and Gabriella's two year anniversary and he was determined not to make a mess of it this year like he had last. He knew that she loved Tim McGraw and he couldn't wait to give her her present. He looked over to his girlfriend who was currently in the passenger seat in his car blind folded. He smirked seeing the look on her lips, she was trying to act mad but by the small smile playing on her lips he knew that she was excited. She loved it when he took control of their dates and suprised her. He knew that she would love where they were going tonight. _

_Troy helped Gabriella out of the truck and led her to the spot where he had set everything up for their date.  
"Troyyy are we nearly there?." He chuckled at her eagerness. He stilled her body and moved behid her, sending shivers down her spine as he whispered "here."  
He untied the blindfold from her eyes and searched her face with a smile as he saw her eyes widen and heared her gasp in the still night. _

_She couldn't believe her eyes. She looked from Troy to the scene in front of her numerous times before she jumped into his arms. "I can't believe you did this for me." She whispered against his neck. "I love it." She turned to look him in the eyes and sweetly kissed his lips. Troy took her hand and led her over to the 'date spot'. He had set a table for two, with two lillies and a candle in the middle. She gently touched the lillies and turned to smile at him.  
"You remembered." He grinned.  
"Of course I remembered, I know how much you adore lillies and not roses." He scratched his neck. "I learned my lesson Valentines Day." She giggled.  
"I told you I didn't mind." She whispered against his lips before covering them with her own. He moaned into the kiss.  
"Come on let's eat and save desert for later." He wiggled his eyebrows and felt his heart soar when hearing her giggle._

_Troy had prepared a three course meal for Gabriella. He told her over the main course that he had been prerparing for weeks, asking his mum to let him help her cook so that when the day came around he could do it all himself. She couldn't believe that he had done that for her, she knew that cookery wasn't an interest of his. She savoured every mouthful knowing the effort that he had gone through for her. _

_They had just finished desert and Troy stood, offering his hand to Gabriella. She giggled.  
"Troy there's no music." He smiled.  
"Ah, that's where you're wrong Gabi." She watched as he went over to the basket of food and pulled out a CD player. He pressed play and watched as a smile formed on Gabriella's lips. Tim McGraw, 'You Don't Love Me Anymore' started to play, her favourite song. _

_She allowed him to lead her to the bridge that they had been to so many times before. He took her in his arms and they danced the whole night long. _

Gabriella smiled remembering the way the lake glistened in the light. That was one of the best nights of her life.

_"When you think happiness  
__I hope you think that little black dress__  
Think of my head on your chest  
__And my old faded blue jeans__  
When you think Tim McGraw  
I hope you think of me"_

Gabriella knew what the word 'happiness' meant to her. It meant that night, the night of their two year anniversary. She remembered her head leaning on his chest as they danced the night away in her little black dress. She remembered how he had suprised her and presented her with two tickets for a Tim McGraw concert in Georgia two weeks from that date. She remembered how she had worn her old faded blue jeans to the concert and how he had told her that she had never looked more beautiful to him. When Gabriella thought of the word 'happiness' and its meaning, one face filled her mind. Troy Bolton's. The only person that would ever mean pure happiness to her.

_"September saw a month of tears  
And thankin' God that you weren't here  
To see me like that"_

Gabriella awoke the next morning feeling drained from the night before. Her mother was currently on a business trip and would not be back until tomorrow evening and her friends, well most of them were arriving home this evening. She couldn't wait to see them it had been far too long since they had all been together. Together. That scared Gabriella. All together meant Troy too, how she did not want to see him. She was nervous, but anxiuos too. She wanted to see how he'd changed in their time apart. She hoped that he had kept his promise, that he was still the beautiful person he was when they were in High School. That Troy Bolton she prayed woud always be there, the same boy that stolen her heart when they first met, her first kiss, her first love. Yes, she definitley wanted to see him. She remembered crying everyday after Troy had left for college and everyday in September whilst she was at Harvard during her first semester. She had missed him too much. If only she had savoured that time that they had been together because she had to go through the next three years of college without him completely and that tore her apart even more.

_"In a box beneath my bed__  
Is a letter that you never read  
__From three summers back  
It's hard not to find it all a little bitter sweet"_

Thinking of Troy she took out the box from underneath her bed that she had hid last night when she couldn't take anymore. She carefully looked through the memories and curved her lips into a smile when her eyes landed on what she had been searching for, the envelope containing the letter she wrote to him three years ago. She scanned her eyes over the letter and wondered if she had made the right decision in not giving it to him. She remembered writing it, finally understanding why Troy had broken up with her. It was to save them, to save their relationship. But that didn't mean that she had to like it or that it would help her miss him any less. She traced the words with her fingertips. She knew what she had to do.

_"When you think Tim McGraw__  
I hope you think my favorite song  
__The one we danced to all night long__  
The moon like a spotlight on the lake__  
When you think happiness__  
I hope you think that little black dress__  
Think of my head on your chest  
And my old faded blue jeans  
When you think Tim McGraw  
I hope you think of me"_

It had been amazing for Gabriella to see the entire gang again, well not the entire gang. Troy still hadn't returned home from Duke. All the others had arrived back in Albuquerque earlier that day, to say Gabriella was anxious was an understatement. She discussed Troy with Chad, intently listening to how his life had been over the past three years. Chad asked Gabriella her feelings for him and she replied "I don't know, I guess I'll decide when I see him."

_"And I'm back for the first time since then  
I'm standin' on your street  
And there's a letter left on your doorstep"_

Gabriella turned onto the familiar street. She caught her breath as she saw the house, the house that held far too many memories for her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking causing the envelope in her hands to shake also. As she approched his front door she shuddered remembering the last time that she had been here, their break up. She forced back the tears that were forming in her eyes. 'No Gabriella, don't be stupid. That was a long time ago, leave it alone.'

She gently set down the letter on the Bolton doorstep and smiled gently before walking away from the house, out of the street and out of sight. She had made the right decision in finally giving it to him. At least it was better late than never.

_"And the first thing that you'll read is:"_

Troy got out of the car with his parents and smiled, 'home sweet home...finally.'

Lucille Bolton made her way to the front door and stopped upon seeing something white on the floor. Puzzled she bent down to pick up what looked like an envelope and turned it around inspecting it.  
"Troy" she called and he made his way to where she was standing with his back pack in his arms. "This is for you sweetie."  
He frowned and took the letter from her outstretched hand. He recognised who it was from instantly, on the front of the letter in her neat writing was his name. He called to his parents informing them that he'd be right back and ran to his room for privacy.

He opened the letter and read what was inside.

_"When you think Tim McGraw  
I hope you think my favorite song  
Someday you'll turn your radio on  
I hope it takes you back to that place  
When you think happiness  
I hope you think that little black dress  
Think of my head on your chest  
And my old faded blue jeans  
When you think Tim McGraw  
I hope you think of me"_

Troy opened his bottom drawer, his memory drawer. He shuffled around in there looking for the mixed CD Gabriella had made him years ago. He placed it into his CD player and turned straight to number fourteen, his number. As the words of Tim McGraw filled his room he layed on his bed letting the song take him back to that place, his place with Gabriella. He remembered how she looked in that little black dress she had worn on their anniversary, the way she had rested her head on his chest whilst he held her close, the way she wore those old faded blue jeans. No one could pull them off like she could, she'd look amazing in anything.

Of course he thought of her when he heard Tim McGraw, how could he not? He remembered the way she jumped into his arms when he showed her her anniversary present, a trip to Georgia and two Tim McGraw concert tickets. He had never seen her smile so big. He had never seen her look so beautiful, the way the moon reflected off the water and onto her face lighting it up even more and allowing him to see her more clearly.

_"Oh, think of me  
Mmmm"_

As the song finished Troy jumped up, suddenly realising what Gabriella's letter meant. She still loved him. Of course she did, what else could it possibly mean? Chad had told him that she was arriving home first meaning that she was here in Albuquerque, and he knew exactly where to find her.

_"He said the way my brown eyes shined  
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night  
I said: 'That's a lie' "_

Gabriella was sat on the bridge with her legs dangling over the lake. She loved it here, this is where she envisioned her happiness.

She was taken from her thoughts when she felt that familiar shiver, one that she hadn't felt in a long time. That only meant one thing...Troy.

"The way your brown eyes shined put those Georgia stars to shame that night." He smirked.

"That's a lie." She whispered. Troy caught her whisper as he came to stand directly behind her.

She turned, a small smile gracing her lips. "Troy" she whispered before crashing into his arms.

She was here, she had achieved it and she remembered that this is what true happiness felt like.


End file.
